As the cost of living continues to rise, households are often left navigating a complicated financial landscape, particularly when it comes to energy costs. For payment-challenged families, finding avenues to save on essentials such as energy is crucial for improving their quality of life.
Offer Center, part of Uplight’s industry-leading Marketplace solution, helps utilities target, engage, and provide energy savings to income-qualified customers—a segment with a higher energy burden.
The customer-centric solution is designed to provide free energy-saving products, bundled product rebates, and even program enrollments to customers, with no strings attached. While typical eCommerce centers often require credit card information or shipping payments, Offer Center removes these barriers entirely, providing a frictionless and effortless user experience. By promoting energy-efficient products and programs, utilities can provide savings for income-qualified customer segments—all while reducing energy demand and improving grid stability.
The Offer Center’s effectiveness can be seen in Consumers Energy’s campaign during the winter of 2022-2023. Serving approximately 6.7 million customers in Michigan, Consumers Energy aimed to assist customers in reducing energy usage amid rising winter bills. Leveraging Uplight’s Offer Center, the utility targeted income-qualified gas and dual-fuel customers with an enticing offer: a free Google Nest smart thermostat.
By March 2023, over 37,000 smart thermostats were forecasted to be distributed, exceeding the initial goal of 30,000. Using these smart thermostats, customers can program and set temperatures according to their preferences and schedule, helping them save between 5-10% on their bills.
Another compelling example comes from Evergy, a utility that employed the Offer Center to provide income-eligible customers a six-pack of 9-watt LED light bulbs at no cost. In just five days, Evergy was able to connect with approximately 183,000 Missouri households.
By the end of October 2022, nearly 9,000 households had received the free lightbulbs, translating into $2.4 million in lifetime electric cost savings. To put this into perspective, a family of four with an annual income of $55,500 could save around $265 on electric bills over the lifespan of the LED light bulbs—an amount equivalent to roughly 1.5 weeks of groceries or rent for the average household.
In 2024, Uplight now enables utilities to include a free smart thermostat bundled with demand response enrollment at the point of checkout, enabling low-income customers to to easily participate in load flexibility programs.
From distributing smart thermostats in Michigan to providing LED light bulbs in Missouri, the Offer Center has played a crucial role in driving energy efficiency and fostering stronger customer relationships. By creating a frictionless channel for accessing energy-saving solutions, utilities can accelerate progress towards a more sustainable, equitable, and customer-centric energy landscape.
